The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament today have criticised the planned withdrawal of the Bank Structural Reform (BSR) file by the European Commission.
S&D Group vice-president responsible for economic and monetary affairs, Udo Bullmann, said:
“We regret the decision by the European Commission to withdraw the Bank structural Reform file since the problem of global banks that are too-big-to-fail still exists.
“Unfortunately, the Bank Structural Reform file was blocked in Parliament by the EPP Group and its rapporteur with a position that only paid lip-service to addressing comprehensively the too-big-to-fail agenda, while putting the interests of global financial behemoths above the interests of taxpayers and citizens at large.”
S&D Group negotiator for this file, Jakob von Weizsäcker, added:
“The too-big-to-fail financial behemoths still pose a danger to financial stability, to the taxpayer and to clients that are being short-changed due to unresolved conflicts of interest within these banks.”
“To protect taxpayers, a reversal in the burden of proof for global banks is needed. Global banks should have to demonstrate that their risks are under control and failure to do so should result in better capitalisation or a split-up. ”
“Market making is a useful activity but must not be used by banks to camouflage proprietary trading or to mask conflicts of interests with client accounts.”
“The withdrawal of the BSR file marks an unfortunate turning point in the European agenda on regulating large banks.”
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